which ought to be, WHO confess their Faults.
What Hopes then have we of having Justice done so,
when the Makers of our very Prayers and Laws, and
the most learned in all Faculties, seem to be in
a Confederacy against us, and our Enemies themselves
must be our Judges.’
The Spanish Proverb says, Il
sabio muda consejo, il necio no; i. e. A
wise Man changes his Mind, a Fool never will.
So that we think You, Sir, a very proper Person
to address to, since we know you to be capable of
being convinced, and changing your Judgment. You
are well able to settle this Affair, and to you
we submit our Cause. We desire you to assign
the Butts and Bounds of each of us; and that for the
future we may both enjoy our own. We would desire
to be heard by our Counsel, but that we fear in
their very Pleadings they would betray our Cause:
Besides, we have been oppressed so many Years, that
we can appear no other way, but in forma pauperis.
All which considered, we hope you will be pleased
to do that which to Right and Justice shall appertain.
And your Petitioners, &c.
[Footnote 1: This letter is probably by Laurence
Eusden, and the preceding letter by the same hand
would be the account of the Loungers in No. 54.
Laurence Eusden, son of Dr. Eusden, Rector of Spalsworth,
in Yorkshire, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge,
took orders, and became Chaplain to Lord Willoughby
de Broke. He obtained the patronage of Lord Halifax
by a Latin version of his Lordship’s poem on
the Battle of the Boyne, in 1718. By the influence
of the Duke of Newcastle, then Lord Chamberlain, he
was made Poet-laureate, upon the death of Rowe.
Eusden died, rector of Conington, Lincolnshire, in
1730, and his death was hastened by intemperance.
Of the laurel left for Cibber Pope wrote in the Dunciad,
Know, Eusden thirsts no more for sack
or praise;
He sleeps among the dull of ancient days.]
* * * *
*
No. 79. Thursday, May 31, 1711.
Steele.
‘Oderunt
peccare boni virtutis amore.’
Hor.
I have received very many Letters of late from my
Female Correspondents, most of whom are very angry
with me for Abridging their Pleasures, and looking
severely upon Things, in themselves, indifferent.
But I think they are extremely Unjust to me in this
Imputation: All that I contend for is, that those
Excellencies, which are to be regarded but in the
second Place, should not precede more weighty Considerations.
The Heart of Man deceives him in spite of the Lectures
of half a Life spent in Discourses on the Subjection
of Passion; and I do not know why one may not think
the Heart of Woman as Unfaithful to itself. If
we grant an Equality in the Faculties of both Sexes,
the Minds of Women are less cultivated with Precepts,
and consequently may, without Disrespect to them,
be accounted more liable to Illusion in Cases wherein
natural Inclination is out of the Interests of Virtue.
I shall take up my present Time in commenting upon
a Billet or two which came from Ladies, and from thence
leave the Reader to judge whether I am in the right
or not, in thinking it is possible Fine Women may
be mistaken.
